Duggan neighborhood plan targets abandoned houses, scrappers

9:11 AM, September 10, 2013

Former Wayne County Prosecutor and Detroit Medical Center head Mike Duggan talks to the Detroit Free Press about his run for mayor of Detroit in Detroit on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. KIMBERLY P. MITCHELL/Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press

Mike Duggan formally unveiled his 15-page plan for addressing blight and abandonment in Detroit’s neighborhoods Monday night, saying his experiences as county prosecutor a decade ago — going after neglectful property owners and drug houses — show how he would proceed as mayor.

“This mindless process of demolishing everything in the city has to end,” Duggan told about 75 people gathered in the basement of Trinity Presbyterian Church on West Grand Boulevard on the city’s west side.

Duggan spoke at length about his 10-point plan and how it would roll out if he is elected mayor Nov. 5, when he squares off against Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, won came in second in the primary.

Duggan proposes a new Department of Neighborhoods that would consolidate services now provided by 14 city departments, and opening offices in each of seven City Council districts to streamline services such as trash removal and grass cutting on vacant lots, tougher code enforcement, neighborhood cleanups, dealing with abandoned houses, demolitions, and the state of vacant city lots.

He also said he would aggressively go after owners of abandoned or neglected homes and businesses as well as homes that become drug houses, seizing the properties under nuisance laws, forcing owners to fix up the properties and get them occupied or risk losing them. The efforts would be modeled on similar programs he ran in Detroit in 2002-03 as Wayne County prosecutor.

He also proposed cracking down on squatters, creating incentives for homeowners in sparsely populated blocks to move into stronger neighborhoods and bringing a targeted, rational approach to demolition instead of a haphazard approach he said is inefficient, slow and doesn’t leave room for sparing properties that can be rehabbed.

But he added a new measure: Going after scrappers who steal metals and other materials from empty homes and the scrapyards that purchase the materials. Duggan said it is tougher to go after thousands of individual scrappers who might get off with a misdemeanor conviction, but scrapyard owners who buy pipes, wiring and other goods that were stolen can be prosecuted on felony charges of purchasing stolen goods.

Duggan said he would back legislation sponsored by state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, to outlaw scrapyards from paying for scrap in cash, and instead require them to pay in checks mailed to an address so that people who have sold stolen goods can be tracked.

“You take the profit out, they’re not stripping these houses down,” Duggan said to applause.

With less than two months to go in the race, Duggan and Napoleon are ramping up their efforts to reach out to voters with specific ideas for what they would do as mayor.

Napoleon is to unveil a plan he said could help reduce crime by 50% during a meeting at 6 tonight at the Greater Emanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ on the city’s west side. The plan is part of what he calls a comprehensive neighborhood growth strategy underlined by improved public safety.